Organizers working to bring best vintage military aircraft to new Jacksonville museum

Joe Daraskevich

Monday

Jul 25, 2016 at 5:11 AM

When Bill Mosely decided to open a museum in Jacksonville dedicated to military aircraft history, he knew it would be a long process from start to finish.

After months of work, he's still just getting started.

Mosely made a bold move by bringing in a Northrop Grumman OV-1B Mohawk - the only flying, functional one of its kind - as the first piece at the hands-on museum where the exhibits can fly. Plans are to actually put some of the birds on display in the skies.

The OV-1B Mohawk touched down on Veterans Day at Jacksonville Executive at Craig Airport with plenty of fanfare, and now there are more aircraft on the way.

"I took a gamble to go ahead and bring that plane here because I knew it would set the city on fire [and let people know] that we are serious," Mosely said this month.

But the museum is far from finished and the fundraising is just getting started.

Mosely is the museum's director and a military veteran, but admits fundraising isn't what he knows best. That's where Denis Oliverio comes in.

Oliverio served in the Marines for 20 years and has a passion for aviation. Before signing on to head the fundraising effort for the U.S. Military Air Power Museum, Oliverio served as the director of development for K9s For Warriors.

Before that he was the director of major gifts at the Wounded Warrior Project.

He was between jobs this spring after leaving K9s For Warriors, and museum organizers needed someone with his type of resume to help drum up support.

Oliverio said his passion for aviation made joining on with Mosely a no-brainer.

"They've got huge hearts, a great plan and lots of passion, but they just don't know the fundraising aspect," Oliverio said of Mosely and others working to create the museum.

Oliverio said it's going to take about $1 million to really get the ball rolling.

"We need to have a million dollars to be able to say we are serious," Oliverio said.

He's been with the museum for about three months and said he hasn't even started soliciting people for funds.

"I have barely stuck my toe in the water," Oliverio said.

He said he needed to spend time getting to know the plan for the museum and the people he's working with. He wanted to have all the answers when potential donors ask him questions.

WORK IN PROGRESS

The first phase of the project is complete. Mosely has secured a maintenance hangar to work on the planes at the airport off St. Johns Bluff Road.

The Mohawk is in the hangar and looking better than ever, Mosely said.

He said the detail crew for Air Force One contacted the museum and recently came down to buff the aircraft used in Vietnam and Desert Storm.

"It's unbelievable what they did," Mosely said of the shiny Mohawk, which has two seats and twin turbo propellers.

Now he's working to add to the fleet.

An excursion to bring an H-3 Sea King twin-engine helicopter from Jacksonville Naval Air Station to Craig means a police escort as the chopper is pulled behind a semi truck through roads and highways.

The journey this week has to take place in the middle of the night to avoid traffic, Mosely said.

More aircraft are coming. Mosely has a plan to bring a TA-4 Skyhawk painted in Blue Angels colors up to Jacksonville from Titusville.

Mosely said he doesn't want to risk taking it apart and reassembling it, so his plan is to have a barge bring it up in the next couple of months.

Having a piece of Blue Angels history in the maintenance hangar will be key in recruiting investors for the museum, Oliverio said.

"That's the place where the Blue Angels had their first air show," Oliverio said of Craig. "It's kind of the birthplace of the Blue Angels."

Debbie Jones, community relations administrator at Craig, said they aren't currently talking to organizers about leasing another hangar for the museum's showroom.

Oliverio said it's going to be a while until those talks take place.

In the meantime, he plans to bring people out to the maintenance hangar to show them what is there already to let them envision what else their money can bring.

Joe Daraskevich: (904) 359-4308

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